1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a device for sorting fish delivered unsorted and conveyed in the direction of their longitudinal axis into uniform head-tail alignment by turning any fish supplied tail first, the device comprising a driven clamping and turning device for seizing the tail region of fish fed tail first and turning the latter into head-first position, the clamping and turning device comprising a disc body driven to rotate about an essentially horizontal axis and defining a gripping gap.
2. Description of Prior Art
Such a device can be taken from German Offenlegungsschrift No. 32 29 502, corresponding to my co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 520,111, filed Aug. 3, 1983. The turning device used in this known device comprises a rotatingly driven clamping member including a plurality of pincer elements which cooperate with a rotating disc opposing them and form a clamping gap running perpendicular to their axis of rotation, which clamping gap can be closed in a region extending approximately from the highest point of the clamping member in its turning direction over an orbit sector of approximately 90.degree..
In practical use this clamping member has shown that after a relatively short time functional disturbances occur due to unavoidable soiling, which disturbances become apparent in the increasing number of fish aligned incorrectly. This is caused by fish scales, additional catch etc. intruding into the clamping gap so that the tail fins fed to the latter are not gripped securely and therefore a turning cannot be guaranteed.
3. Objects of the Invention
It is a main object of the present invention to avoid such disturbances. It is a further object to suggest a device of a rather simple structure and high reliability over long working periods.